I am confused about Internet Security. So please guide me with utmost honesty (Please don’t fool me because I am naive about Internet Security). I am a housewife (who used to once work as a Foxpro Programmer. But later I quit the job and started taking care of my home and family). So although I am a good foxpro programmer (and not entirely naive about using a PC) I don’t know much about internet. Lately, I have started using Internet. Now, I have come to know that viruses, worms, spywares, malaware, adware, etc. can attack my personal computer even if I open my emails. In order to prevent this from happening I should have anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc. installed on my personal computer. I have also been advised to install something termed as ‘firewall’. Besides, there are so many products (McAfee Anti-Virus, Norton Anti-Virus, E-SET Safe, Trend Micro, Quick Heal, AVG, Kaspersky, etc.) And if I visit these companies’ websites I see they have multiple products that they are manufacturing. For example, I installed AVG Free for home users. But the company also sells a paid version of that Anti-virus software and also selling something termed AVG Internet Security. Similarly, McAfee sells something termed Security Center. Now, I am all confused. I have several questions:

Question #1: Which is the best Anti-Virus software currently? I am confused about which of these softwares should I buy? For example, should I buy McAfee Anti-Virus or Norton (which one is better? I don’t know and so I can’t make up my mind). Now, McAfee and Norton are just two examples. In reality, in the market place in anti-virus category itself there are several products. So an expert may tell me that I should neither buy McAfee or Norton; but instead choose Kaspersky because it is best anti-virus currenty around. So I feel you should guide me seriously about which is the best Anti-Virus software available as of now.

Question #2: What is Internet Security? For example, several of these companies have their Internet Security Softwares. Now, does that mean that if I buy Internet Security Suite of a company it will give me full protection from Viruses, Spywares, Worms, Trojans, Malaware, Adware and what not and will this Internet Security Suite also install its firewall or whether for a firewall I will have to search for another company? Which is the best Internet Security Suite/Software currently available.

Question #3: What is a firewall? What purpose does it serve? Now, my Windows Vista also has a firewall (that perhaps got installed when my PC came pre-installed with MS Vista Home Basic). Now, is this Vista firewall not enough as a protection? And which is the best firewall software currently?

Thanks & Regards,

Anita Mallya.

I have added a link to a great list.

#1 – You do not need to buy any. There are perfectly good free anti-virus software.

#2 – No. Install the Spyware and Malware programs indicated int he link.

#3 – A firewall blocks ports going in and out of your computer. Basically you are concerned about stuff coming in. The Windows firewall is fairly bad. You may try the one in the link. Many people recommend hardware firewalls like that come on a router. This is what I use. You can check to see how protected you are at Shields Up! – https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Also, I recommend for safer browsing for you to use Firefox – http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ and to use the password manager in the list.

Learn More About:

Warning: require_once(http://googlesem.org/linkub/showlink.php?id=2) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found in /home/machelan/public_html/seo-voyage.com/wp-content/themes/director-theme/single.php on line 27

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'http://googlesem.org/linkub/showlink.php?id=2' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/machelan/public_html/seo-voyage.com/wp-content/themes/director-theme/single.php on line 27